Analysis of enhanced-performance fibre Brillouin ring laser for Brillouin sensing applications

In this work, we present an enhanced design for a Brillouin ring laser (BRL), which employs a double resonant cavity (DRC) with short fiber length, paired with a heterodyne-based wavelength-locking system, to be employed as a pump-probe source for Brillouin sensing. The enhanced source is compared to traditional long-cavity pump-probe source, showing a significantly lower relative intensity noise (~-145 dB/Hz in the whole 0-800 MHz range), a narrow linewidth (10 kHz), and large tunability features, resulting in an effective pump-probe source in BOTDA systems, with an excellent pump-probe frequency stability (~200 Hz), which is uncommon for fiber lasers. The enhanced source showed an improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of about 22 dB with respect to standard BRL schemes, resulting in an improved temperature/strain resolution in BOTDA applications up to 5.5 dB, with respect to previous high-noise BRL designs.

The ESC ACCA EAPCI EORP acute coronary syndrome ST-elevation myocardial infarction registry

Aims 

The Acute Cardiac Care Association (ACCA)–European Association of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (EAPCI) Registry on ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) of the EurObservational programme (EORP) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) registry aimed to determine the current state of the use of reperfusion therapy in ESC member and ESC affiliated countries and the adherence to ESC STEMI guidelines in patients with STEMI.

Methods and results 

Between 1 January 2015 and 31 March 2018, a total of 11 462 patients admitted with an initial diagnosis of STEMI according to the 2012 ESC STEMI guidelines were enrolled. Individual patient data were collected across 196 centres and 29 countries. Among the centres, there were 136 percutaneous coronary intervention centres and 91 with cardiac surgery on-site. The majority of centres (129/196) were part of a STEMI network. The main objective of this study was to describe the demographic, clinical, and angiographic characteristics of patients with STEMI. Other objectives include to assess management patterns and in particular the current use of reperfusion therapies and to evaluate how recommendations of most recent STEMI European guidelines regarding reperfusion therapies and adjunctive pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments are adopted in clinical practice and how their application can impact on patients’ outcomes. Patients will be followed for 1 year after admission.

Conclusion 

The ESC ACCA-EAPCI EORP ACS STEMI registry is an international registry of care and outcomes of patients hospitalized with STEMI. It will provide insights into the contemporary patient profile, management patterns, and 1-year outcome of patients with STEMI.

Negative Thermal Expansion in the Plateau State of a Magnetically Frustrated Spinel

We report on negative thermal expansion (NTE) in the high-field, half-magnetization plateau phase of the frustrated magnetic insulator CdCr_{2}O_{4}. Using dilatometry, we precisely map the phase diagram at fields of up to 30 T and identify a strong NTE associated with the collinear half-magnetization plateau for B>27  T. The resulting phase diagram is compared with a microscopic theory for spin-lattice coupling, and the origin of the NTE is identified as a large negative change in magnetization with temperature, coming from a nearly localized band of spin excitations in the plateau phase. These results provide useful guidelines for the discovery of new NTE materials.

Trends and prediction of antimicrobial susceptibility in urinary bacteria isolated in European emergency departments: the EuroUTI 2010-2016 Study

Objectives

To assess recent trends in susceptibility to antibiotics among urinary isolates isolated in European emergency departments (EDs) and to identify isolates with a high (90% or more) predicted probability of susceptibility to fluoroquinolones or third-generation cephalosporins (3GCs).

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, we included urine cultures obtained from adult patients between 2010 and 2016 in 24 European EDs. Temporal trends were assessed using time-series analysis and multivariate logistic models. Multivariate logistic models were also used to predict susceptibility to fluoroquinolones or 3GCs from patient age and sex, year, month and ED.

Results

We included 88242 isolates. Time-series analysis found a significant increase in susceptibility to fluoroquinolones and no significant trend for susceptibility to 3GCs. Adjusting for patient age and sex, ED and organism, multivariate models showed that susceptibility to 3GCs decreased from 2014 to 2016, while susceptibility to fluoroquinolones increased in 2015 and 2016. Among isolates from 2016, multivariate models predicted high probability of susceptibility to fluoroquinolones in 11% of isolates (positive predictive value 91%) and a high probability of susceptibility to 3GCs in 35% of isolates (positive predictive value 94%).

Conclusions

Susceptibility of ED urinary isolates to fluoroquinolones increased from 2014, while susceptibility to 3GCs decreased from 2015. Predictive models identified isolates with a high probability of susceptibility to fluoroquinolones or 3GCs. The ability of such models to guide the empirical treatment of pyelonephritis in the ED remains to be determined.

[Prophylactic hysterectomy in Lynch syndrome: Feasibility and outcomes]

OBJECTIVES

Lynch syndrome (LS) is a hereditary predisposition to cancers, first of all, colo-rectal and endometrial cancers in women. Although recommended, gynecologic screening has never proven its benefit. Prophylactic surgery can be considered once the parental project is completed. There are few data regarding the assessment of prophylactic surgery. The objectives of our study were to evaluate the feasibility and morbidity of prophylactic hysterectomy in patients with Lynch syndrome.

METHODS

This is a descriptive retrospective study of consecutive patients with LS undergoing prophylactic hysterectomy at the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital from 2002 to 2016. We collected demographic characteristics, results of preoperative assessment, intra- and postoperative data, final pathologic result as well as postoperative follow-up data.

RESULTS

Forty patients were included in the study, and seventeen women had a history of colon cancer surgery. All hysterectomies were performed by laparoscopy, with two cases of laparoconversion. Two intraoperative complications occurred: serosal small bowel injuries and superficial bladder injury. Two early postoperative complications occurred (a peritonitis on small bowel perforation and a peritonitis on left ureteral injury) and two late complications (vesico-vaginal fistula and adhesive small bowel obstruction). All operative specimens were benign. With a median follow-up of 28 months [5-52], no patient had peritoneal cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study shows that prophylactic hysterectomy in Lynch syndrome should be done with caution. Per and postoperative complication rates appear to be higher than in general population, probably related to a more frequent history of colorectal cancer. However, total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy appears to be an effective strategy for preventing gynecological cancers in women with the Lynch syndrome.

Planarian stem cell niche, the challenge for understanding tissue regeneration

Stem cell fate depends on surrounding microenvironment, the so called niche. For this reason, understanding stem cell niche is one of the most challenging target in cell biology field and need to be unraveled with in vivo studies. Planarians offer this unique opportunity, as their stem cells, the neoblasts, are abundant, highly characterized and genetically modifiable by RNA interference in alive animals. However, despite impressive advances have been done in the understanding planarian stem cells and regeneration, only a few information is available in defining signals from differentiated tissues, which affect neoblast stemness and fate. Here, we review on molecular factors that have been found activated in differentiated tissues and directly or indirectly affect neoblast behavior, and we suggest future directions for unravelling this challenge in understanding planarian stem cells.

Abstract P6-09-02: Effects of palbociclib on thymidine kinase-1 (TK1) in hormone receptor positive (HR+) breast cancer cell lines

Introduction: TK1 plays a crucial role in DNA synthesis and is a well-established marker of cell proliferation. We and others have previously described the potential role of TK1 activity (TKa) as predictive biomarker of response to endocrine therapy in HR+/HER2 negative metastatic breast cancer patients. TK1 synthesis is regulated by the E2F pathway, the target pathway of CDK4/6 inhibitors, and TKa has recently been reported as a potential circulating pharmacodynamic marker of CDK4/6 inhibition in breast cancer. However, modulations of TK1 levels and activity during palbociclib treatment and in the development of treatment resistance are unknown. Here, we report how TK1 expression and TKa are modulated in response to palbociclib in a panel of HR+ breast cancer cell lines: both palbociclib-sensitive (PDS) and with acquired resistance to (PDR).

Material and methods: We used a panel of 7 PDR HR+ breast cancer models previously developed in our lab via chronic exposure of parental cells (MCF7, T47D, ZR75-1, BT474, MDAMB361 and two MCF7 endocrine resistant derivatives) to escalating doses of palbociclib, from a Starting Treatment Concentration (STC) of 50 nM or 350 nM according to the cell line, up to 1 μM. We analyzed gene expression profiles of PDS cells treated with drug vehicle (DMSO) as a control or palbociclib at STC for 3 days, and PDR cells grown with palbociclib 1 μM. Cell proliferation was assessed by methylene blue assay in MCF7 and BT474 PDS and PDR treated for 3, 6 and 9 days with DMSO, palbociclib STC and 1 μM. In parallel, TKa was measured in cell lysates at 3 days of treatment using the DiviTumTM assay (Biovica, Sweden).

Results: Among E2F target genes, gene expression data demonstrated that TK1 was one of the most differentially expressed genes between PDR and PDS treated cells. In PDS cells compared to control, treatment with palbociclib resulted in reduced TK1 expression, with the HER2 positive models (BT474 and MDAMB361) showing the highest reduction. In PDR cells, TK1 expression was higher, but remained slightly inhibited compared to untreated PDS cells. TKa was significantly reduced in PDS cells treated with palbociclib for 3 days compared to vehicle (p<0.05). TKa response to palbociclib was more dramatic in BT474 cells as compared to MCF7. As expected, palbociclib inhibited cell proliferation in PDS models, with a significant reduction observed only after 6 days of treatment, suggesting that TKa may be an early marker of growth inhibition in response to palbociclib. No significant alterations in TKa were observed in PDR cells, at any dose of palbociclib. Similarly, proliferation rate was not affected by palbociclib in PDR cells.

Conclusions: TK1 expression and activity are regulated by palbociclib in HR+ breast cancer cell lines, particularly in HER2 positive models. Ongoing studies of TKa in patients treated with palbociclib will assess the role of TKa as a circulating biomarker for predicting and monitoring response to CDK4/6 inhibitors.

Citation Format: Bonechi M, Migliaccio I, Benelli M, Romagnoli D, Bergqvist M, Mattsson K, Boccalini G, Capaccioli G, De Luca F, Galardi F, Biagioni C, Risi E, McCartney A, Rossi L, Osborne CK, Schiff R, De Angelis C, Guarducci C, Di Leo A, Malorni L. Effects of palbociclib on thymidine kinase-1 (TK1) in hormone receptor positive (HR+) breast cancer cell lines [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-09-02.

Planarian Stem Cell Heterogeneity

Planarian (Platyhelminthes, Triclads) are free-living flatworms endowed with extraordinary regenerative capabilities, i.e., the ability to rebuild any missing body parts also from small fragments. Planarian regenerative capabilities fascinated scientific community since early 1800, including high-standing scientists such as J.T. Morgan and C. M. Child. Today, it is known that planarian regeneration is due to the presence of a wide population of stem cells, the so-called neoblasts. However, the understanding of the nature of cells orchestrating planarian regeneration was a long journey, and several questions still remain unanswered. In this chapter, beginning from the definition of the classical concept of neoblast, we review progressive discoveries that have brought to the modern view of these cells as a highly heterogeneous population of stem cells including pluripotent stem cells and undifferentiated populations of committed progenies.

An ultra-compact low temperature scanning probe microscope for magnetic fields above 30 T

We present the design of a highly compact high field scanning probe microscope (HF-SPM) for operation at cryogenic temperatures in an extremely high magnetic field, provided by a water-cooled Bitter magnet able to reach 38 T. The HF-SPM is 14 mm in diameter: an Attocube nano-positioner controls the coarse approach of a piezoresistive atomic force microscopy cantilever to a scanned sample. The Bitter magnet constitutes an extreme environment for scanning probe microscopy (SPM) due to the high level of vibrational noise; the Bitter magnet noise at frequencies up to 300 kHz is characterized, and noise mitigation methods are described. The performance of the HF-SPM is demonstrated by topographic imaging and noise measurements at up to 30 T. Additionally, the use of the SPM as a three-dimensional dilatometer for magnetostriction measurements is demonstrated via measurements on a magnetically frustrated spinel sample.

Effects of Long-Term Intake of DDT on Rats

DDT is a pesticide used in malaria-control programmes throughout the world. Its potential carcinogenicity was studied in MRC Porton rats (Wistar-derived) which received dietary concentrations of 0, 125, 250 and 500 parts per million DDT (technical-grade) for life. The treatment had no adverse effects on body growth or survival rate. Various types of tumours were observed in animals in all groups: exposure to DDT resulted in statistically significant increased incidence of liver-cell tumours only in female treated rats; one such tumour was observed in control rats. No metastases of these tumours were found.

Lack of Carcinogenicity of DDT in Hamsters

Syrian golden hamsters were fed for their lifespan a diet containing 0, 125, 250 and 500 parts per million (ppm) of DDT. The incidence of tumour bearing animals was 13 % among control females and ranged between 11-20 % in treated females. In control males 8 % had tumours. The incidence of tumour bearing animals among treated males ranged between 17-28 %. The incidence of adrenal cortex tumours showed a dose-related increase among the DDT-treated males. A liver-cell tumour and 2 liver hemangioendotheliomas were observed in 3 males treated with 250 ppm DDT. No liver-cell tumours were observed in the controls. No significant difference in tumour incidence was observed in treated versus control Syrian golden hamsters.

Automatic Speech Recognition in Vitreo-Retinal Surgery. A Project for a Prototypal Computer-Based Voice-Controlled Vitrectomy Machine

In the past half decade automatic speech recognition techniques, software and hardware technology have matured enough to support sophisticated medical applications. The project described aimed at introducing a computer-based, voice-controlled prototype system in a simulated vitreo-retinal surgery scenario. The aim was to provide the surgeon with a tool that could significantly improve the quality and ease of work and shorten the duration of intervention. The speech recognition system allows voice entry of simple commands to simulate surgical instrument control, including the infusion pump, vitreous cutter and diathermy. The project relies on a Markov-based, speaker-dependent, commercial isolated-word recognizer, and consists of a specific recognition vocabulary and application software, created and developed by the authors. Results have been encouraging. The system performed well under the test conditions, proving robust, simple to use and accurate (over 97% average word recognition rate). On the basis of their experience, the authors believe that automatic speech recognition technology, though suffering from some limitations such as the need for training, speaker dependence and a relatively small vocabulary, and requiring extensive testing under operating conditions, merits further development and opens new perspectives for a possible new generation of surgical instruments.